Just Call It 'Play It For The Zeroes'
by tbbookworm
Summary: An alternate universe where Mari, Lasercorn, Jovenshire and Sohinki come together to form a band. Mari Takahashi/Matt Sohinki and Joshua Ovenshire/David Moss. Enjoy and review!
1. Chapter 1: We Were Only Strangers

Mari was an independent type of person, which meant that she didn't like asking people for help. The problem was, she couldn't start a one-girl band. Sure, she had the voice for it, but she hadn't played a guitar in _years_. There was a competition coming up soon, and the prize money was _totally _worth the effort. All she needed was a band to play with.  
She sat on her couch, staring at the blank plasma T.V for what seemed like hours; until she came up with an idea. Mari wasn't sure that it would work, but if it did, she was a genius.

And that was how she ended up in her old, musty garage, tapping her pen boredly on the table that she sat at. She'd advertised in the newspaper a week ago, and stuck up flyers; her feet still hurt from all the walking that she'd had to do. There was money mentioned in the advertisements, so she was sure that _some _people would turn up.  
A whole hour passed, in which she was contemplating going inside and taking a nap, or mixing some new lyrics to a song.  
Finally, a white van pulled up inside, and Mari raised her head from its drowsy position. The girl quickly sat up and swept back her hair, at the ready fro the first audition.  
A person exited the van, collecting their equipment from the back and lugging it toward the house. She gave a friendly wave at which they nodded, hands being full so that they couldn't exactly wave back. As they neared, she noticed it was a guy. A _cute_ guy. He'd be a nice addition to the band with his closely-shorn hair and deep eyes, the Asian girl thought dreamily.  
"Hey, are you alright?" Mari shook herself awake as the man set down his guitar case and speaker on the concrete. She offered a hand out to him and they shook; even though there was a cold wind blowing outside and the clouds were drawn over the sun, his hand was warm. "I, uh, just wanted to clarify that this is a rock band, right? Not one of those weird techno Asian ones?"  
"No, it's definitely rock," she laughed, maybe a little too loudly and a little too much. "What are you going to be playing for me today?"  
"Kryptonite, by Three Doors Down. I don't know if you've heard of it...?"  
"Yeah, course I have, they aren't too bad. Sweet guitar riffs, if you can pull it off." Mari gestured to him to set himself up around the garage; waiting patiently, she watched him tune his electric guitar with care and set the volume at a respectable low level.  
When he started playing, she was sold almost instantly. His fingers glided sensuously over the guitar strings, strumming and plucking in the right places. They were definitely the hands of a talented musician. and Mari found herself tapping her foot softly and humming along to the chorus.  
He cleared his throat suddenly, and she realized that he had finished playing.  
"That was, amazing... wow." The man shrugged and fiddled with his guitar strap, glancing down briefly at her clipboard.  
"So, are you going to take my name and number?"  
"Oh, yeah, of course!" Mari said quickly, picking up her pen. Scribbling down his name at the top of her clipboard, the girl cautiously asked for his phone number. He grinned, reciting it with ease while she tried to keep down her blush; goddamnit, she didn't _blush_.  
"You know, it was nice to meet you, Mari." The man had packed up his equipment and was standing awkwardly by the open garage door, a cold, wintery afternoon framed behind him. "I was wondering, if maybe, if I didn't get into the band, we could go out for lunch or something?"  
"That'd be nice. Besides, you know where I live." He grinned, giving her one last wave before he packed his gear into the back of his van and drove away.  
It wasn't till she was sure that he had gone that she over his name again with her pen; Matt Sohinki. Even now, she was fairly sure that she would give him the part of lead guitar.

Her next auditioner was a drummer. It was a part of the band that was quite important, since they tied the band together with the rhythm that they played, so she wasn't sure how she was going to pick.  
He stumbled with his gear into the garage, clattering it onto the dense concrete with a wince. Once, he even dropped a cymbal on his foot, which caused her to discover his colourful vocabulary.  
Eventually, he stood in front of her table, pasting a grin on his face as he straightened his Batman t-shirt. He looked... meh. A bit nerdy, with his glasses and spiked hair as well as a Bat tat. And, even though he was doing his best to look happy, there was something going on behind the facade; it worried the girl slightly.  
"Show me what you've got, Bat Boy." The man gave her a suspicious look as he sat down, twirling his sticks.  
It was his passion that really got through to her. He wasn't the mad hatter type who pounded at the drum with only a little sense of rhythm, but he wasn't the quiet type that no-one could hear. And it sounded like he treated his set with care, not to mention that he had a taste for playing.  
The dark-haired drummist signed down his own name and number in a scrawling manner, sliding the clipboard back before saluting the girl adieu and disappearing in his slightly battered Honda.  
His name was written Joshua Ovenshire, and Mari noticed a little snarky comment written in the margin, 'I'm the best drummer you'll get today.'

Despite his cockiness, he turned out to be right. The absolute worst she got was a man who looked to be in his late 40's and looked, not to mention _smelled_, like an old hippy in need of a bath.  
She gave a sigh of relief when a bass player dragged in his instrument just as it began to rain; she'd been waiting for it after all of the bad weather today, and now it was late in the evening, maybe an hour before the sun was going to set. Her butt had gone sore from sitting there for so long, and her stomach was rumbling.  
"Had many bass players in today?" he asked, making small talk as he began to set up.  
"Actually, only one other guy. You haven't got much competition, luckily."  
"First good news I've had all day." Slinging his guitar strap over his head, he grinned, eyes shining happily even though most of his shirt was soaked. It made Mari smile back, even if she was tired, hungry and altogether grumpy. He was like a little beacon of joy, and it made her want to say he was in the band immediately.  
He hit all the chords with ease, like he could have had his eyes closed and played that well. Surely there was another band out there that should have snapped him up by now. But, lucky her, had him casually playing in her garage while rain patter on the tin roof.  
Like Joshua, he signed himself, declining her offer of help with his heavy speaker. She watched him cheerily whistle his way through the rain with his gear and then leave. He was both the happiest and last auditioner she for the day.  
The Asian girl stretched her arms high to the sky, hearing something click loudly. After that, food was the first thing on her mind after she closed the garage door and picked up her clipboard.  
Too lazy to do anything else, Mari made a peanut butter and jam sandwich before plonking herself down on the couch. She clicked on her T.V with the remote, and proceeded to forget about the auditions.  
She fell asleep in her bright clothes on a vaguely uncomfortable couch with the T.V flashing brightly to light up the shadowy room.


	2. Chapter 2: But Maybe We Knew

She woke up late in the morning to a death metal song killing her surround sound. She fumbled around for the remote before switching it off, sighing in relief that she didn't have a headache.  
What she did have was a sore neck from sleeping in an awkward angle, and her dark hair was mussed from sleep; picking up her phone, she saw that it was 11.30. Mari groaned loudly just as her stomach grumbled. Lunchtime. Or just really late breakfast time.  
As she was tipping milk into her cereal bowl, she noticed the abandoned clipboard lying on the bench; it would be a bit desperate for her to call everyone up today, it hadn't even been 24 hours since the auditions. But then again, there wasn't much time left to the competition.  
Mari continued to stare at the board as she ate her cereal, her decision coming to a head as she ate her last spoonful.  
May as well bite the bullet and do it now.  
Her eyes lazily looked the list up and down, and she picked up a pencil to put a tick beside each of the names that she picked. It was a fairly easy decision, even though there was a lot of choice involved.

He wasn't at home when his phone started vibrating in his pocket, ringtone trilling loudly to make him blush and feel embarrassed. He excused himself from the game he was playing with his friend, and went outside to answer the phone call.  
"Hello?"  
"Matt, it's me, Mari! From the band audition yesterday?"  
"Oh, really?" His brow furrowed. "I didn't think that you'd be calling me this early. I mean, you only held the auditions yesterday, isn't it a bit soon?"  
"The other bands entering the competition aren't exactly waiting around, so I thought the sooner the better, you know? Anyway, I _was _wondering if you still wanted lead guitar?"  
"Yeah, of course I would!" Sohinki was kind of surprised that he had been accepted into the band, because like some musicians, he didn't think he was that talented. He didn't even really like playing in front of his friends.  
"Cool! Then, are you free this Thursday for band practice?"  
"I should be." Who was he kidding, he'd make time for the practice. "I'll see you there, Mari." Matt hung up in a happy mood, sliding the cellphone back into his jean pocket as he went back into his friend's apartment.

When she rang Joshua, he wasn't as quick to pick up. It was about a minute before he answered, and she was impatiently tapping her foot on the floor when he decided to do so.  
"Who is this?" he asked as soon as the call had gone through. There were gun noises and grunts in the background, so Mari guessed that she was on loud speaker and he was playing Halo or something.  
"It's Mari. You know, you came to my garage and played drums for me, and now is about the time where I ring you and tell you whether you're my drummer or not?" The 'pew pew pew' sounds stopped immediately and there was a rustle as the man picked up his phone properly.  
"Technically, I wouldn't be _yours," _ he joked as the Asian girl rolled her eyes. "I didn't think you'd be calling me back this early, though. Did I get in?"  
"I saw that cocky little comment that you left me," she replied, practically hearing his grin through the phone. "And you were kinda right. Yeah, you're in. My house on Thursday for practice?"  
"I'll cancel if I'm doing something. See you before lunch."

Her call to David went to voicemail straight away, a very strange voicemail.  
"This is Lasercorn here, I'm either busy or I don't like you. Press 1 if you are here to harass me because you lost a game to me online and you think I'm a cheater. Press 2 if you are one of my actual friends and I know you personally. Press 3 if your name is Mari, because you're probably here to tell me I got into the band."  
She pushed 3 and was about to leave a message for him when she heard a familiar voice say,  
"Did I get in?"  
"Hi to you, too. Why does it say Lasercorn on your voicemail?" There was a chuckle from the other side of the line.  
"Ah, now that is a story for band practice. Which reminds me, when is band practice? I'm free Wednesday to Saturday."  
"How are you so sure that you got in?"  
"When I asked you, you said that there was only one other bassist in that day, so I'm obviously better. You still haven't answered my question." His confidence was refreshing, and Mari felt herself grin when she said,  
"Thursday."  
"Sweet, I'll be there. Remember to buy Fruit Snacks! Every great band needs Fruit Snacks!" He hung up on her before she could say anything else.  
Lasercorn sure sounded more interesting than David Moss, name wise.

Matt was casually reclining on his own couch, having returned home a few hours ago and he had also ordered pizza for dinner. He was still on his happy high that he had been accepted into Mari's band, even if the other members of the band were complete strangers to him.  
The T.V was showing an old action film that he hadn't seen in a while; he laughed at the comedy lightly.  
The man's eyes strayed to the coffee table as his phone began to vibrate violently, an unknown number flashing on the screen. He was going to dismiss the call and continue watching the movie, but knew that there was a small chance that it was important. Not to mention he would feel bad about it later.  
"Hello," Sohinki answered the phone with a sigh.  
"Matt, you won't believe it, but I finally got into a band!" The man paused.  
"David? Is that you?"  
"What?" The caller on the other side sounded confused at his questions. "Of course it's me! I'm one of your contacts on your phone, aren't I?"  
"About that..." A while back, he and David had gotten into a fight over... something personal that he didn't want to think about, not now. Needless to say, the two of them hadn't exactly stayed in touch over he had deleted the number.  
"Oh. You deleted my number. I should have guessed, after what happened. Matt, if it means anything to you, I'm really sorry. It was more my fault then yours."  
"Thanks, but I don't want to hear about it," mumbled Matt, massaging his forehead. "What's this I hear about a new band?"  
"Well, there were heaps of flyers around town about it, and I was coming out of work when I saw one of them and saw one. So I went to the address and auditioned, and there was this kinda hot Asian chick there, her name started with a M... damn, what was it?"  
"Mari?"  
"Yeah! How did you know?" Sohinki's heart sank at the thought of being in the same band as David. That had happened before, and hadn't ended in the greatest way. If there was a repeat of that incident...  
"Because, I got into that band as well," he said heavily.  
Oh. _Oh._" A long time passed in silence, neither of them really wanting to speak. "Well, uhm, it _might _work out-"  
"It wouldn't. But... there isn't exactly anything that we can do, Mari asked _us_ into her band, not the other auditioners... David." He said the man's name in all seriousness. "Promise me you won't do what you did last time."  
"Yeah man, that's the least that I can do to make it up to you." The doorbell rang, making Matt swivel his head to look at the front door.  
"I've gotta go, my pizza's here. I guess that means I'll see you on Thursday, then."  
"Bye Matt," David said wistfully, and the man waited until he heard dial tone.  
He tipped the pizza guy more than usual, and sat down to another lonely night with pizza and television for company.

The light was off, the curtains were drawn, and he was on his own in a large, seemingly empty apartment. Tom had come by earlier to pick up his stuff while he had been at work. The man was still staring at the note he had left behind, taped to the fridge.  
He didn't like being alone; hell, he never had. He always tried his hardest in relationships, keep the other person just as happy as they kept him. This time, it had been just as much of a hopeless cause as the other times.  
He threw back his head as he took another shot of vodka, feeling the back of his throat burn and sting like the flames of Hell were trying to burn him up from the inside. Already, a quarter of the vodka was gone, but he didn't care as he went to pour himself another glass. (SHOT GLASS)  
The only good news that he'd had all day was that he'd gotten into the band; there was something that could distract from his own mind. He swigged another shot, coughing afterwards. The man's pocket began to vibrate, probably another worried call or text from Tom.  
Tom could go fuck himself.  
He was determined now, as he drank the memories away, that he would stay home and live on takeaways until Thursday; he'd call in sick to work and lie. He just didn't want to be out in public right now.  
Joshua felt himself sway precariously as he went to return the vodka bottle back to it's rightful place in the kitchen; he'd drunk quite a lot, to his surprise. He hadn't even realized that he'd thrown back over half a bottle.  
Oh, how time flies when you're mildly depressed, he thought bitterly to himself.


	3. Chapter 3: We Had Our Faults

**Hello, my fellow Smoshers! After lots of procrastination and secret stuff, I managed to finish this chapter. Might be a little wait till the next chapter, I'M SORRY, but I'll try.**

* * *

Not the least bit invigorated or happy, Mari woke up to her cluttered bedroom on a late, Thursday morning. Nothing felt different or new as she slipped her feet into her panda slippers and shuffled into the kitchen sleepily.

There was a loud knock on the door that she dismissed immediately; nobody came to her house at 10 in the morning, they knew that she was asleep. Mari poured herself her usual morning coffee, listening to someone knock again. Sipping the hot coffee, the Asian grumpily went to answer it.

"What do you want?" she grumbled sleepily.

"It's Bat Boy, remember? We kind of have band practice today?" At first, she squinted at him like it was a joke, but then her dark eyes widened in realization.

"Band practice, right, totally forgot." Mari rubbed her eyes so that she could see him better. "Uhm, you can come wait on the couch, if you want, until I get dressed and the others get here. No Dora the Exploring around my house, okay?" As she led him into the lounge, she noticed him roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye.

"Okay, yeesh, I get it. Stay in the lounge. Nice pajama pants, by the way." Looking down at the mini ninjas chop-suing over her legs, Mari gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into her bedroom. Maybe it _was _dangerous to leave someone she didn't exactly know that well in her house, but her brain was still sleepy, it was early and politeness ordered that she let him inside.

What was on her mind, as she tried to sort out her outfit for the day, was what the guys would say about the songs that she had written. It was obvious that she was going to have to sing to them, and it wasn't that she was nervous or anything like that, it was that she wasn't that confident in what she had written.

How long was it going to take for them to write out the notes, the beats, the rhythm, just the core _feeling_ of the song. It wasn't going to be bish-bash-bosh, done, because music had one rule; it was never _simple _and it often had multiple meanings. It was something that took time, effort and maybe even love.

Mari hadn't been in love for a long time, which didn't necessarily mean she didn't want to be; whenever the opportunity arose, on few occasions, she was too busy or it didn't feel right. The girl sighed as she pulled on her Zero to Hero t-shirt and gave her hair a final last brush.

"Did the others get here yet?" she asked as she wandered down the hallway back into the living room. Joshua looked up from his phone like a frightened rabbit from his phone, eyes slightly teary. "Are you alright, Joshua?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," the man replied, sniffing and rubbing his sleeve over his eyes. "Nothing to worry about. The others haven't got here yet, or I didn't hear the doorbell ring." The girl frowned with worry, seeing right through his lie.

"Look, Josh," she said, sitting down beside him awkwardly. "I may barely know you, but we are part of a band now. Bands are like family, you know? (And family means no-one left behind!) I think it would be better if we didn't lie to each other, and if you don't want to talk, then that's fair enough. Just, no lying, okay?"

"Thanks, Mari." The drummer began picking absentmindedly picking at the leather cushion beside him. "It's kinda complicated, though, and I doubt that it's a story for a time like now." The doorbell rang, and he gestured to it. "See?"

"Alright. Hey, do you want to go grab your equipment out? I'll open the garage for you." Nodding, he followed her to the front door, back slouching like a hunchback.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the man that she was hoping for at the door.

"Hey Mari," grinned David as he wandered his way past her into the house, guitar case in hand although he left the speaker out on the doorstep. The other man's eyes followed him until he rounded the corner, and he shook himself to pick up the speaker.

"Where do I put this thing?" huffed Joshua as he lugged it into the house.

"It can't be that heavy," chastised the girl, jogging ahead to lead the two of them. "There's a door into the garage just through here, and don't drop that on my foot, Josh." As he grumbled under his breath, she realized that his barrier had gone back up into the usual, disgruntled nerd, one who had hardly any arm strength.

Mari opened the garage door with a creak, holding it open until the two men had carried in the band gear.

"So, uh, who is this guy?" asked David as he wiped his hands on the thighs of his jeans, looking almost shyly towards Joshua.

"Joshua, David. David, Joshua. Josh is our drummer, and David's our bassist." They shook hands cautiously, eyeing each other up as if in competition; they mumbled greetings before backing away. "Josh, why don't you go grab your drum set and I'll help David out."

The dark-haired man wandered out of the garage to do just that while Mari tried to find a power socket.

"Why are you giving me such suspicious glances for" asked the bassist as he pointed at a socket on the floor.

"You and Joshua..."

"We just met, what about it?" He seemed to want to avoid the question, by the way that he fiddled with his tuning and bass strings.

"There's just... Never mind." She didn't want to finish her sentence because the drummer came back, balancing his drums precariously. Mari went to help him immediately, at which he sighed a 'thank you'.

As soon as she had set them down, the doorbell rang, meaning that the final member of the band had arrived. The girl felt almost embarrassed by the way that she rushed to answer the front door.

"Matt, you made it!" Mari refrained from giving him a hug, instead tucking her hands into her large hoodie pocket. "Look, let me help with-" He shook his head, nudging past her into the house with both his guitar case and speaker.

"No no, it's fine, I can handle it." The man found his own way to the garage before she did, where they saw David helping to set up the drums, bass slung across his back like a traveling musician. Sohinki stiffened slightly in the doorway before he went to set up on the far side of the garage, side-stepping the others.

"Hey, who's that?" asked the drummer as he straightened up, clicking his back.

"Matt, meet Joshua, the taller one who's drummer, and David, the shorter squidgy one who is the bassist." The man awkwardly waved at the others, though Mari had a feeling that soon they would warm up to each other. After all, that's what all bands did, right? "Well, I'm going to go get my songs and microphone, you guys... Socialize."

Sohinki sat down on the solid concrete, a huff exiting him as he began to toy with his guitar. The other two were getting along merrily, by the looks of it, and he almost felt a bit wistful at that all, David hadn't said a single word to him since he had arrived.

He watched his old friend hand the drummer his drumsticks; saw the lingering fingers, the flushed cheeks, the awkward glances. He saw the soft pat on the back, the light shove, the quiet laughter. In fact, he saw a lot.

And he wasn't sure that it was a good thing.

Scratching the back of his neck, Matt strummed some basic chords afterwards while waiting for Mari to come back.

"What do you think, Matt?" The sudden question made him jump as he looked up into warm, brown eyes.

"What?"

"Well, if we want to enter the competition, we need a band name. And we all need new names, too." David offered him a pale hand, heaving him up so that they were on equal footing. "Ideas?"

"He's right," piped up the Asian girl as she slipped back into her garage, bear slippers sliding on the smooth surface. "But first, I think David has a certain story to tell us."

As she crossed her arms, the man grinned, seemingly remembering whatever promise that he had made.

"Quite simple, actually." He began to tug off his shit, Matt almost immediately noticing Joshua's interested type of face. In a way, it made him angry, but he tried to still that emotion straight away.

He had already seen the tattoo on David's back before; it was something that he liked to show to everyone that he knew. The tattoo in question was a unicorn with rocket launchers attached to it's sides as well as a laser shooting out of it's horn. It was where he'd picked up the nickname 'Lasercorn'.

"Sweet tat," whistled Joshua, squinting through his glasses at it. "Probably better than mine."

"I show you mine, you show me yours?" asked David with a wink, pulling his shirt back over his head.

"Uh, maybe another time." The man seemed shy, or embarrassed, making Sohinki even more confident in his presumption.

The only thing that he really had a problem with was the fact that something like this had happened before; in the last band that they had been in. But he couldn't exactly talk this time around.

"Oh, but if we're getting new names, then I dibs Lasercorn," David joked.

"DAMMIT, that was my idea!" He and the drummer laughed, though they felt a bit awkward doing so.

"I have an idea for your name, though. You said that your last name was Ovenshire, right? Well, what about just 'Jovenshire'? It's simple and it suits you." The other man frowned, but then nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, the bassist saw the last member of the band mumble something under his breath.

It made David sad that Matt had never really forgiven him for breaking up the band two years ago, even though he'd accepted the fact that it was his fault and come to terms with it. The band was going downhill anyway; their songs were getting worse, Michael showed up drunk and could barely play, not to mention that Tom was gone off in his won fairyland half the time.


	4. Chapter 4: We Made Each Other Better

**HAPPY FRIDAY, LOOK WHAT I MADE YOU AS A GIFT :D Actually, it's Satrday where I am, so I had some spare time to polish this up. Reviews are welcome!**

* * *

Their band was called 'Flaming Extinction', which was rather ironic considering what happened to the band of four teenage men. Tom was their lead singer, Michael played drums, David had bass and Matt took lead guitar.

The band started off well enough, performing in small night clubs and increasing their reputation and fame until they had their first small tour planned. Everything was going great; they had the open road, groupies, and their music, and it made them happy.

That was until David decided to get into a relationship with Tom on their second across-state tour. Matt had even warned David that he shouldn't get involved, that if anything happened, that band was done for. He liked how life was, even if it was a bit hectic at times.

5 whole months passed, where Tom and David became _too _close for Matt's comfort, who kept his fingers crossed that nothing would happen.

And one night he forgot to cross his fingers.

The guitarist found out that David had had a one night stand after one of their gigs, and he'd snuck back into their hotel room afterwards. Maybe he should have told Tom straight away instead of keeping the secret to himself.

The lead singer eventually found out, and disappeared for over two weeks, making the rest of the band cancel their gigs until he came back. When he did, the two ex-boyfriends got into a scuffle which ended with Tom in the hospital with a broken arm.

When David went to apologize at the hospital, flowers and all, he found out that Tom had been keeping secrets as well. It turned out that the singer had had a relationship on the side, ever since the start of Flamed Extinction.

***********  
So that was, basically, how the band had risen to such a high pedestal and then come crashing down into the rubble of dissolution.

David never had learned who it was that Tom had been dating; all he could really remember was the pain and hurt of betrayal. He tried not to remember that nowadays.

He walked past Mari and Joshua back to where his old friend had seated himself once again with his guitar, strumming absentmindedly.

"Hey."

"Hi." A few minutes passed, after which David decided that the conversation wasn't going to end that easily.

"You know, I've said sorry plenty of times to you before. I'm sick of saying it. The least you could do is forgive me for the stupid mistake that I made, and try not to ruin this band, okay?" Sohinki said nothing. "C'mon Matt, the band was falling apart anyway. Tom and I just sped up the process. I mean, Michael was an alcoholic and a addict, that was never going to work out." He stayed silent, making the bassist lean closer. "Listen, Matt," he whispered. "We are walking a fine line in this band and our tension is making that line thinner and thinner. We can be sociable and sort it out, or you can go fuck everything up."

"What do you want me to say? 'Oh, I'm so sorry, let's forget that you didn't listen to me and made our band split up'?"

"How many times do you expect me to apologize?" the man hissed, trying to keep his voice down from the others. "I'm not saying it to you anymore."

"Why should I care?" David's eyes narrowed immediately.

"You don't deserve it." He stiffly unfolded his legs and stood up, seething mad and ready to go.

"Hey, wait, David-" The lead guitarist tugged at his hand lightly, making the man turn to glare down at him. "Look, I-I... _I'm _sorry." David stopped trying to pull away, expression softening considerably. "I'm sorry for ignoring you, for making you angry, for being a real douchebag."

"You, you mean it?" Matt nodded, gesturing for him to help him up, which is what the man did. "Gee, now you're getting me all emotional," sniffed the bassist, pulling him into a quick hug before he could think twice about it.

"Resolve some issues, did you?" asked Mari quietly as they pulled apart.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Well, if that's over and done with, would you come with to brainstorm in the lounge? There're Fritos and Coke, and comfortable carpet." Sohinki gave a meaningful glance between David and Joshua, neither of them noticing before replying,

"Food might stimulate me to come up with some ideas." As they left their instruments in the garage, Mari sidled up to Matt and asked,

"So, is it just me, or does it seem like 'Lasercorn' and 'Jovenshire' have something going on?"

"You know, I don't think you're half-wrong," he whispered in reply, nodding towards the two men in front. "After all, who knows?"

************  
Once they were all seated in a circle on the carpet, almost like children as Sohinki thought to himself, Mari spoke up first.

"So I was thinking, if we're thinking up a band name, then it needs to be something that we can all relate to, you know?" Jovenshire nodded, already reaching for the Cheetos.

"Depends on what we all have in common, though," replied Lasercorn. "If we're going to do this like preschool, we should write them down on paper like good little boys and girl!" They began to laugh, thinking of how they were acting.

"It'd be better if we just say them rather than waste our time." The Asian girl nodded at the guitarist's suggestion.

"I like cookies." Mari.

"I like glasses." Lasercorn.

"I like tattoos." Jovenshire.

"I like leather jackets." Sohinki.

There were a few moments of silence as they all thought on this, knowing that this was going to get them nowhere...

*"I like video games"*

The group of 4 said it in unison, looking at each other in surprise.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Sohinki rolled his eyes, knowing David well enough that he would just say it anyway. "Just call it 'Play It For The Zeros'. You know, like 'Zeros to Heroes' on Mari's t shirt, but more original."

"You know what?" Mari paused for a second before continuing, brow furrowing. "That isn't too bad. Lasercorn, Jovenshire, Sohinki and Atomic Mari, Play It For The Zeros. It has a ring to it, I'll give it that."

Both she and Sohinki reached for the Mnms, hands brushing together for a moment to make them blush.

"It's only another month till that competition, ya know. We could get started know or we could just sit around in a circle for the rest of the afternoon..."

"Actually, I wanted you guys to have a look at my song lyrics and stuff, just to see what you guys think. I mean, we can collaborate and write some new stuff, but personally, I like what I've written. It's up to the whole group, though."

David and Joshua began sifting through the first few together, sharing the pieces of paper while occasionally nudging each other. It made the other two smile slightly while they looked at their own.

'I can't say that I ever wanted to leave, but you made me go,

Goodbye's the hardest word to say when you're leaving home.

Stay, I want to stay here with you,

Leaving is the last thing that I wanna do.'

Matt slowly mouthed the words as he read them, picking up on what must have been personal experience for the other girl. It certainly was written with feeling, that was for sure, but he wasn't sure sure how it was going to fit into a rock song.

"It's good. As in, I wouldn't mind making up a melody and tune to go with the lyrics. But don't they seem... I don't know, soppy, in a way?" Mari blushed, looking into her lap kind of shyly.

"I don't know, I just wrote what I was feeling at the time. If you guys don't like it-"

"It's great," interrupted Matt. "It just needs some minor adjustments before we can actually play it, that's all."

"Shall we get to it, then?"

*************  
For the first time in quite a few months, Joshua returned to his apartment happier than when he had left, and also when he wasn't under the influence of alcohol. It was a such a strange, elating feeling; to feel so happy after being so low and depressed. It was... So different.

As he sat down on the couch, he saw the half-full bottle of vodka sitting, waiting, watching, on the coffee table, only a few feet away from him. Cautiously, the man picked up the bottle and headed into his kitchen.

He tipped every single ounce of vodka down the drain, where it belonged. Joshua felt good doing so, knowing that it hadn't really been helping him in the first place.

It was because, now, he had a purpose, he had something to do; he had a on and off job at a night club, a band to play with during the day, and not to mention, someone that... Well, he couldn't say much about it yet, but they made him feel more alive, more energetic, more _Joshua_. It was strange, but that was how he felt.

He kept remembering the tattoo on David's back, the ink etched into his pale skin, dark contrasting with light. The man's own spine shivered just at the thought, and for a second or maybe even a minute, he almost felt a bit dirty by thinking about it so much.

But, then again, no-one could read his mind.

Hopefully.

**************  
So.

Joshua.

Jovenshire.

His mind was actually finding it rather difficult to think about anything else apart from the nerd that had wandered into his life just today. It was all mush and daydreams, and sure, it was nice, but it all too much reminded him of Tom.

Tom, Tom, Tom. The name kept running through his head again and again, breaking it down into the man that he had used to know. He'd hadn't thought about it in such a long time, and there was still a faint ache in his heart; that ache worried him.

It had been so long ago.

David wasn't even sure that he remembered it right anymore, even it had only been two years. Two _whole years_.

He turned onto his stomach in the bed, face pressing into the pillow comfortably.

There was something about him, Joshua Ovenshire... It rang a bell in his head, though he hadn't heard the name before; he didn't _remember_ hearing it.

All he knew was that one day, maybe even for more than one day;

He was going to see all of Joshua's tattoos.


	5. Chapter 5: We Didn't Need Those Words

**Greetings, brochachos! I CONQUERED THE SMUT, and have therefore willingly submitted it for your satisfaction. I wanna hear what you guys think, though!**

* * *

One week. It was only one more week to the competition. In the blink of an eye, 3 weeks had been and gone. Even then, the four of them had become more of a close-knit group.

Of course, they were still just a band, though what went through their minds wasn't particularly in the 'just friends' region.

_'But they could never take our imagination away,_

_Not before and not today,_

_It's been too long but we still remember,_

_Even after the wrinkles of growing older,_

_So we burnt down their judgment!'_

Mari pulled her microphone out of the stand, beginning to pace around the front of their 'imaginary' stage.

_'We were Zeroes to them, so we proved them wrong,_

_To all of you mistreated, sing along to this song!_

_Burn down their judgment!'_

The drum beats reverberated throughout the garage, exaggerating along with all the lead singer's words as she shouted into the microphone. The guitarist shyly stepped backward to make room for David to step confidently towards the front.

And the last few notes rang out, echoing in their ears for a while; the only other sound was the sound of faint panting from all of them.

"Intense," muttered Jovenshire from behind his drum set, flicking out his dark hair.

"Yeah, you said it." Mari massaged a sore crick in her neck that was still hurting from the way that she had thrown her hair around onstage. "But do you think that it's ready for the competition? I think it is, but-" She shrugged, sliding the microphone back into its rightful place.

"I vote that we discuss this over lunch." Lasercorn looked back down at his watch. "Or an early dinner, actually. It's already 5 now, so perfect timing." Still seated behind his drums, Joven began to blush while he looked down at the floor.

"Oh, well, actually David, I was wondering if you wanted to come out to dinner. With me. Tonight. I mean, you could always say no, which is fine, but it-"

"'Course we could go out to dinner. How about we leave our band conversation till next time?" offered the man, already beginning to put away his bass and speaker. Mari and Sohinki smiled and nodded, snickering behind their hands with 'told you so'. "Then it's a date. Mari, would it be okay if I left my car and other stuff here? We're meeting up tomorrow, so it would be more of a hassle for me to take them."

"Sure, I don't mind. You two go have fun," the Asian girl joked, giving them a fake wink before she went back into the house, Sohinki already following right behind her.

The two other band members stood for a few awkward moments in the garage, Lasercorn scuffing his sneakers on the hard surface while Jovenshire twirled his drum sticks.

"Well, uhm, I guess that we should get going then. I know a good 60's diner that's in town somewhere, if you want to go there."

"Then why don't we head out now?"

* * *

"If you grip that steering wheel any tighter, you're gonna pulverize it," David said jokingly. Joven then quickly tried to unclench his whitening knuckles from the wheel, putting on a smile. "What are you so worried about, anyway? It's just dinner."

"The thing is that, I haven't actually been out to dinner with anyone lately. Only about a month ago I was going through a break up, so you'll understand if I'm a bit nervous this time around." Lasercorn gave him a sympathetic look, but he also began to grin a bit.

"So this really _is _a date then, isn't it," he replied smugly, crossing his arms. "I knew it."

"If you don't want to go on this date with me, then I can just drop you at your apartment and we can just forget about it," joked Joshua, indicating left as they stopped at a set of lights.

"Ah, but then you would know where I lived, which would mean that you could stalk me. Stalkers are not on my agenda at the moment."

"We'll continue this inside." He parked the car outside of the restaurant, waiting patiently for David to get out of the car before locking it. Yes, his heart was racing as he walked beside the other man, as he opened the door and watched him step inside, as he saw David sit down at the booth. He was a very observant person. He noticed a lot of things.

"I believe that we were discussing how much of a stalker you would be if you dropped me off at my apartment tonight, weren't we?" Lasercorn stated this as soon as they had ordered their drinks for the night.

"And where else am I going to drop you off tonight? My own apartment?" He shrugged, looking out the window as Joven's eyes widened. A shiver ran down his spine at the mere thought of- No. He shook his head to get rid of it and instead focused on the menu in front of him.

"You never showed me, you know." Jovenshire looked up suddenly.

"Showed you what?"

"Your tattoos. You said that you would show them one day, remember?"

"Nope, I don't remember." As his cheeks began to flare up again, the waitress showed up with their drinks, allowing the conversation to stop for the time being. "I'm not really hungry, so can I just have a plate of fries?"

"I'll have a hot dog and fries," replied David as the waitress turned to take his order. She smiled before she left to attend to the other customers.

"Do you have any specific movies that you like, or do you just not watch films?" Joven asked to pass the time by.

"I haven't seen any recently, what with my part-time job as well as band practice and video games. Movies aren't fitting in at the moment, but if I had someone to watch them with then I'm sure that I could make time for them." It was now blatantly obvious to Joshua that he was being flirted with; while it was a welcome feeling, it also served to make him even more nervous than he had been before. Should he be cocky and say something back, or should he just leave it at that and not say anything?

"I'm sure that I would be the same in your situation." David's fox-ochre eyes dulled a little as they studied him, and he couldn't turn away and break the stare.

"Mm, I know."

Once their food arrived, they ate in silence, apart from the few moments where Lasercorn decided that they were going to have a fry throwing competition. Needless to say, there was a lot of tomato sauce thrown about and the other people in the restaurant then thought that they had serious mental issues.

Which they probably did, in fact. After all, David could snort Fanta up his nose to drink it, and that classified him as a weirdo.

After they had payed and were strolling out into the dark car park (wow, how had time passed that quickly?), all Jovenshire could think of was how he didn't want the night to end.

He turned to tell David how much of a good time he'd had, more than he'd had in quite a while, when the man was pushing him up against the side of his old Holden and pressing uncomfortably close. His warm breath rested on Joshua's neck, making the rest of his body seem interminably cold. His mind was screaming at him to make the next move, to just tilt his chin up, when Lasercorn did it first; David's lips were soft compared to his own, or so he thought, and soon he was fumbling with the keys and the door handle desperately.

"Your apartment or mine?" he whispered in heated words once the man allowed him to breathe.

"What do you think, stalker." Jovenshire grinned as he saw that his glasses were beginning to fog up.

"Well, to drive a car, I can't have someone desperately making out with me because I need to concentrate on the road." David moaned angrily as he was forced to pull away, heading towards the passenger side of the car.

The car ride, to Joshua, was long and strenuous and full of even more nervous worrying, considering the fact that his date couldn't look away from him the entire time; did he mention that he was nervous?

* * *

He managed to open the door and drop the keys on the coffee table before David was spinning him around and kissing him all over again, stars hazing across his vision. Then his glasses were coming off and everything beyond Lasercorn's face faded into fuzziness and darkness.

The man began to undo his button-up shirt, though their mouths stayed connected almost the entire time; even then, Joshua didn't feel like he needed to breathe, not during those moments.

Joven pushed open the bedroom door just as David began to peel off his shirt, throwing into the corner of the room.

"Gears, interesting," he whispered as he kissed the gear wheels lightly. "And a Batman tattoo, that's interesting." His tongue ran over the outline of the Bat. "And, oh, look here... Vampire fangs? A bit cliché, but oh well." David bit down tenderly on his wrist where the fangs were etched. "Hm, what else can I find?"

Joven bit his lip as the man ran his hands over his torso before circling around him. "Oh my, what do we have here? A sword, is it?" His fingers gently traced over his back, over the ink that was permanently set on his skin. The skin still happened to be sensitive and made him growl at the touch. "Any others that you want to tell me about?" asked David while he sensually swept his hands over Joven's hips.

"Why don't you just try to find the others yourself?"


End file.
